The owner of the beehive village is a civil servant? Speculation survey of 17 complexes in Chungbuk-do

Amid allegations of public officials speculation in the Cheongju Nextpolis industrial complex where the’Beehive Village’ was established, all employees in Chungbuk province are investigated whether or not they are speculating on major development sites.

At a non-face-to-face briefing on the 22nd, Kim Jang-hoi, deputy governor of Chungbuk Province, said, “We organized a special investigation team consisting of 28 persons including lawyers and auditors, and the Cheongju Nextpolis Industrial Complex (189,1574㎡) and Osong 3rd Life Science National Industrial Complex (102 million㎡) We will investigate whether public officials are speculating in 17 industrial complexes in the province.” The special task force consisted of the staff of the provincial office’s auditor’s office, the land information department, and the general affairs department. They will check the owners of the land records for each industrial complex listed in the real estate study system, and then look to see if they match the provincial government officials and immediate family members.

The special investigation team plans to check whether or not speculation has been made by examining the work history of the provincial government officials, the status of land transactions, and ownership. It was decided to seek cooperation from the National Police Agency for financial transactions. It is expected that public officials who bought the land in the planned development site before the public announcement of the residents, where everyone can know the development plan, will be the main subject of investigation.

Deputy Governor Kim Jang-hoe said, “We will focus on finding out whether the land was purchased using the development information inside the provincial office.” He said, “I will also check the behavior of planting a lot of seedlings.”

The survey targets reached 20,000, including public officials (4,600 people) belonging to Chungbuk-do, their spouses, and their family members. 91 employees of Chungbuk Development Corporation, an agency affiliated with the province, and 301 family members are also under investigation. In consideration of the 7-year statute of limitations for violations of public officials, the investigation period was set as the content of land transactions in the industrial complex after March 22, 2014. According to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, if public officials take advantage of property gains by using secrets learned during business processing, they are imprisoned for up to 7 years or fined up to 70 million won.

The investigation team is planning to investigate the ownership of the land in the investigation area and the details of land transactions with the consent of the subjects to collect and use personal information. Currently, the consent rate for collecting personal information of public officials belonging to the provincial office is 12% (556 people), and the Chungbuk Development Corporation is 100%. The Special Task Force will investigate three complexes including the 3rd Life Science National Industrial Complex in Osong and announce whether there are any violations at the end of April, when the first stage of investigation is completed. The survey of all provincial government officials and employees of Chungbuk Development Corporation related to 17 industrial complexes will be announced at the end of June, and the results of the survey of family members of public officials will be announced at the end of July.

The period for voluntary reporting of land transactions by provincial government officials is until the 16th of the following month. If there is a fact that a public official, spouse, or direct descendant has purchased land in the industrial complex to be investigated after March 22, 2014, you can voluntarily report it. On the website of the Chungbuk Provincial Office, a report center on allegations of land speculation by public officials is also operated.

Cheongju = Reporter Choi Jong-kwon [email protected]